Gimli Glider
The "Gimli Glider" refers to Air Canada Flight 143, which, on July 23, 1983, experienced a critical in-flight emergency when it ran out of fuel during a flight from Montreal to Edmonton. The Boeing 767-200 was carrying 61 passengers, and complications arose from a malfunctioning fuel gauge and a miscalculation that stemmed from the transition between imperial and metric units. As the plane flew over northern Ontario, the pilots received a warning about dropping fuel pressure, ultimately leading to a complete engine failure at an altitude of 41,000 feet.
Faced with a dire situation, the crew swiftly evaluated their options and directed the powerless aircraft towards Gimli, Manitoba, thanks to the knowledge of one pilot who had previously flown out of the small airport there. Additionally, the other pilot's experience with gliders proved invaluable as they executed a successful landing on a runway that was being used as a racetrack at the time. Remarkably, all aboard the flight survived the incident, which garnered significant media attention and public interest. The Gimli Glider story highlights themes of human resilience and the importance of proper communication and calculation in aviation safety.
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Gimli Glider
Identification Air Canada 767 involved in an emergency landing
Date July 23, 1983
Place Gimli, Manitoba
The safe landing of this Boeing 767 after it had run out of fuel was seen as both a random and a miraculous occurrence.
On July 23, 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 took off from Montreal, Quebec, to begin a scheduled four-hour flight across Canada to Edmonton, Alberta, via Ottawa, Ontario. The airplane, a Boeing 767-200, carried sixty-one passengers. Before leaving, the airplane was bedeviled by a fuel gauge that did not work properly. This problem meant that the ground crew and pilots needed to take special precautions to ensure that the proper amount of fuel was available for the flight. A calculation of the quantity of fuel believed to be in the tanks was made, and the airplane’s computer indicated that it would be sufficient for the journey. There was a problem, however. The 767 was one of the first Air Canada planes to have instrument readings displayed in metric units, while all calculations had traditionally been done using the imperial system. The Canadian government of Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau in the 1970’s had adopted the metric system to replace the imperial system. While younger people became increasingly comfortable with the new system of measurement through schooling, metric measurements remained unfamiliar to many Canadians. As a result of this unfamiliarity, a crucial mistake was made, and Air Canada’s staff overestimated the amount of fuel contained in the airplane’s tanks.
For the pilots, the first sign of trouble occurred when the plane was flying over the northern part of Ontario: A warning sounded in the cockpit indicating that fuel pressure was dropping. Then, suddenly, the fuel ran out, and the engines stopped, leaving the pilots in command of a large airplane without any power at forty-one thousand feet. To make the situation even more serious, the pilots calculated that the nearest major airport, at Winnipeg, Manitoba, was too far away for the plane to reach. The 767 was declining in altitude at a rate of several thousand feet per minute, meaning it would be able to glide only a short distance before it crashed into the ground. Luckily, one of the plane’s pilots had once flown out of a small airport in Gimli, Manitoba, so he was able to direct the plane to that airfield. Equally helpful, the other pilot had experience flying gliders, which was in effect what the powerless Boeing 767 had become. Despite the lack of power, which caused some of the cockpit instruments not to function, the airplane managed to reach the airport. It touched down roughly and ended up nose down on a runway, narrowly avoiding automobiles and people at one end of the runway that, unbeknownst to the pilots, was being used as a racetrack. Miraculously, no one was injured.
Impact
The story of the Gimli Glider, as the plane was called, briefly but forcefully captured the imagination of a public fearful of plane crashes. It both frightened and inspired people, and the heroism of the cockpit crew partly made up for the shocking error that had been made in calculating the plane’s fuel load. The Gimli Glider survived its harrowing experience intact and continued in service as part of Air Canada’s fleet for years.
Bibliography
Hoffer, William, and Marilyn Hoffer. Freefall: From 41,000 Feet to Zero—A True Story. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989.
Montesi, Jorge, dir. Falling from the Sky: Flight 174. Canada, Television Movie, 1995.